


Just the Two of Them

by ChocoholicFangirl



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Noragami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 07:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8048434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocoholicFangirl/pseuds/ChocoholicFangirl
Summary: Shouyou had tentatively sent Kenma a text, that evening after they exchanged numbers; when Kenma replied (probably faster than he usually responds in face to face conversations), Shouyou’s messages started pouring in. Kenma would wake up in the morning to see fifty notifications, ranging from Shouyou’s midnight musings about life and the sentience of birds to questions like do you like cake rolls!! my mom just bought some and then, almost seamlessly, almost naturally, do you want to come up to the roof to have lunch with me!!

  (Kenma privately wonders if Shouyou doesn’t know where the question mark is.)





	Just the Two of Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kirabethstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirabethstar/gifts).



> This is a birthday gift for my wonderful awesome brilliant friend Kira!! I hope you're having a lovely day and will go on to have a lovely year!
> 
> This is meant to be a Noragami!AU but I don't think any knowledge of Noragami is required (although if you haven't watched Noragami please consider it, the animation is so beautiful and the colors!! the characters!!), just go with it, I do kind of explain how the world works but it's not meant to be the defining feature
> 
> Special thanks to [Lomeki](http://www.lomeki.tumblr.com) and [my roommate](http://www.ch-pineapple.tumblr.com), at this point my author's notes sound like Oscar speeches but I can't help it, I am literally incapable of writing by myself

Kenma doesn’t know how long he lay vaguely awake, calm and warm and sleepy, but hopefully it hadn’t been very long, because he opens his eyes to someone’s face barely an inch away from his own.

They stare at each other.

“I’ve never seen anyone sleep like this,” the boy says. His eyes are very close. His voice somehow echoes in the space between them. “Are you okay?”

Kenma, frozen and trying to process this particular chain of events, nods.

“Okay.” The boy’s face splits into a wide grin, which is a stunning sight up close; he sits back on his heels and Kenma exhales in relief. “I’m completely lost,” he says, still smiling, scratching his head. “Do you know where we are?”

Now that the boy isn’t taking up his entire field of vision, Kenma can look up and down the street. The alley is completely empty.

“Oh!” The boy exclaims, eyes wide, and Kenma almost jumps. “I almost forgot!” He stares at Kenma intently for a few seconds, and Kenma has time to wonder before the boy thumps his fist to his chest and says, “I’m Hinata Shouyou, nice to meet you!”

Kenma sits up slowly. There are no phantoms in sight. A lanky gray cat pokes his head around the corner. “I’m Kenma,” he says, because Shouyou is waiting. Then: “I’m lost too.”

 

* * *

 

“And then Kageyama—he was so mad!” Shouyou scowls, holding his hair down flat against his head and trying to speak in a deep voice, but then he bursts out laughing and ruins it. “He kept yelling at me and trying to grab my hair—”

“Kageyama, huh?” Kuroo repeats, not looking up from his cooking.

“Yeah, Kageyama Tobio!” Shouyou claps his hands together as if for emphasis. “Do you know him? He’s so dumb, right? He keeps insisting that he’s a god, I don’t know if he would be stupider if he actually believes it or if he thinks that other people will believe him.”

Kuroo hums in reply. Kenma thinks of Oikawa’s whining about _Tobio-chan the stupid upstart_ and Sugawara’s accompanying jibes of _how petty can you get, arguing with someone so much younger than you_. It’s probably a good thing they’re not here, or Oikawa would probably piss himself laughing.

“Kenma,” Shouyou says, scooting over to Kenma, who is half under the kotatsu. “Do you want to play volleyball? With me? I can show you if you want!”

Ever since that one time Shouyou and Kenma both got lost in that alley and Lev, the gray cat, had led them back to Kuroo’s shop, Shouyou has been showing up almost every other day—to say hi, or to buy some snacks, or to play with Kuroo’s cats. Kuroo has pretty much taken it in stride, but then again Kuroo also regularly puts up with Bokuto, Sugawara, and Oikawa (among others) showing up at his place without warning, so he’s probably not going to complain about a regular human kid who actually pays for his food. Shouyou’s run into Sugawara and Oikawa a couple of times—Oikawa teased him and Sugawara teased Oikawa and both were pretty good about keeping the magicky stuff under wraps. Kenma worries for when Shouyou and Bokuto will inevitably meet, both because they will be unbearably loud and because Bokuto will almost definitely blurt out something like “I remember when volleyball was first invented a thousand years ago” and Shouyou… Shouyou shouldn’t be a part of this. No mortal should, Kuroo had said, looking at Kenma with concern.

But still. It’s nice, having Shouyou here, talking to Shouyou. Or just listening to Shouyou talk. Even if Kenma still has no desire to play volleyball. “I’m taking a nap,” he mumbles. He’s not really that tired, but he’s used to sleeping at Kuroo’s place after school. He can’t seem to get further than a light doze, but he’s not giving up yet.

“You should play,” Kuroo says, watching Shouyou pout and turn away and attempt one-man volleyball in the small yard. He’s wearing an apron, like always, and from the smell of it he was probably making stir-fried vegetables. “It’s good for you to have a real friend.”

Kenma squints at him, but it has limited effect because 1. Kenma’s on the floor cuddling with Morisuke, Kuroo’s ginger cat who is also sometimes a person, and the angle’s all off for annoyed looks, and 2. They’ve talked about this before. Because yes, Kuroo, Bokuto—most of the people Kenma actually speak to, outside of his family—are gods, or spirits, or some other type of not-living person from the Far Shore that Kuroo mentions from time to time. Phantoms—the large, garish monsters that Kenma tries so hard not to see but can never quite ignore—they come from there, too. Or something. Kenma’s never really paid that much attention when Kuroo’s explaining things.

(There’s Morisuke, who Kenma isn’t sure is actually a person or a cat, and people like Hajime and Asahi who can turn into swords or something like that game Kenma tried playing a while ago, and there are things Kenma isn’t sure he actually wants to understand.)

It’s unhealthy for a mortal to spend most of their life around non-mortal people, Kuroo says over and over. Kenma knows that it probably is, but it doesn’t change the fact that Kenma sleeps well here and also it’s hard to talk to people when there are phantoms over their shoulders.

“Whooooaaaa!” Shouyou shouts, pointing at Nobuyuki, the gray cat (not Lev, who is probably out on the street getting run over by cars). “That’s real! That’s a real cat!”

Kenma and Kuroo are startled out of their _we’re not going through this again_ staring contest. “...Yeah,” Kuroo agrees, as Nobuyuki pads over and joins Kenma and Morisuke under the kotatsu. “Yeah, I guess.”

“It didn’t move at all this whole time! I totally thought it was a statue!” Shouyou abandons his volleyball to stroke the cats: first Nobuyuki, then Morisuke, and then his hand hesitates ever so slightly before he gently stroked Kenma’s hair, too. There is a strange, awkward silence before Shouyou said, “I should go home.”

Kenma’s eyes fly open—when did he close them?—and he looks up at Shouyou’s unreadable face. For a moment Kenma is seized with a (really quite ridiculous) fear that Shouyou won’t come back again, that Shouyou’s going to go find someone who’ll play volleyball with him and then it’ll just be Kenma and the cats and Kuroo and the phantoms. His mouth opens, but nothing comes out as he watches Shouyou grab his volleyball and his backpack.

“Oh!” Shouyou says, straightening, and pulls out his phone. “Can I have your number?”

Kenma blinks at him. “What?”

Shouyou grins, looking a little embarrassed. “I mean, you’re always so tired after school. If I can text you then I can come find you when you’re not tired! And we can play volleyball! If you want to.”

Kenma sits up as Shouyou skips out of the yard, as though getting Kenma’s number is some kind of incredible achievement. Then he looks back to see Morisuke, now a person, wiping a tear from his eye.

“We are very proud of you,” Kuroo says, putting the vegetables in front of Morisuke.

“I’m leaving if you’re going to be like that,” Kenma snaps.

He doesn’t, of course, because Kuroo’s setting the table and Kenma can smell the apple pie in the oven. The sky is clear; there are no phantoms anywhere Kenma can see.

 

* * *

 

It takes a surprisingly long time for Kenma to process that his head is in Shouyou’s lap.

Which is stupid, really; Kenma yawned because he had stayed up late playing a new Korean game that had just been released, and Shouyou patted his lap and Kenma took that offer and it had all been a very logical progression. Kenma’s head is in Shouyou’s lap and he’s very, very awake now.

Shouyou runs his fingers through Kenma’s hair, so casual and calm about it that Kenma can’t breathe. “I really like being up here,” he says. “One time I asked some of my classmates to play volleyball with me up here, but then the ball went over the railing…”

Shouyou had tentatively sent Kenma a text, that evening after they exchanged numbers; when Kenma replied (probably faster than he usually responds in face to face conversations), Shouyou’s messages started pouring in. Kenma would wake up in the morning to see fifty notifications, ranging from Shouyou’s midnight musings about life and the sentience of birds to questions like _do you like cake rolls!! my mom just bought some_ and then, almost seamlessly, almost naturally, _do you want to come up to the roof to have lunch with me!!_

(Kenma privately wonders if Shouyou doesn’t know where the question mark is.)

“You know,” Shouyou starts, then pauses, and Kenma’s paying attention now because Shouyou is never afraid of saying something. It feels like Shouyou hasn’t stopped talking since Kenma met him. “You know, the first time we went to Kuroo-san’s shop, there was this guy—short, orange-ish hair? Like, not super orange but like ginger. I forgot his name? And he went outside and left, or something, and then this cat with the same color fur came up and climbed onto Kuroo’s shoulder.”

Kenma _really_ can’t breathe now. “Oh.”

“That’s funny, right?” Shouyou laughs, in a way that suggests that _funny_ isn’t the word he’s thinking of. “Did that guy dye his hair to match the cat? It looked natural on him though.”

Kenma’s staring past the roof they’re sitting on, at the lovely blue sky completely devoid of phantoms, and suddenly he wants to tell Shouyou everything. About the gods, about the phantoms that he has been able to see ever since he was in that accident as a kid. Kenma likes to think he’s not that dense; it didn’t take him that long to realize that the phantoms never bother Kenma when Shouyou’s with him, that Kenma doesn't pass out around Shouyou. He is starting to suspect that Shouyou has, from the beginning, known more about the situation than he let on.

How would he start that particular conversation? _When I was seven I ran across the street to save that idiot Lev from getting flattened and I died for about five minutes_. Or maybe _Hey by the way sometimes my soul straight up leaves my body and I faint on the street_. Or even just _Shouyou, please stay with me forever_.

“Hey, are those Kuroo-san’s cats?” Shouyou points, and Kenma raises his head. Sure enough, Taketora and Shouhei are sauntering up the stairs (well, maybe Taketora’s doing more of the sauntering than Shouhei). “Do you want cake rolls?” Shouyou calls, then frowns. “Can cats even eat those kinds of things?”

Kenma almost says _don’t worry about that kind of stuff with them_. He’s never seen any of the others turn into humans (or turn _back_ into humans?) like Morisuke does, but given that Lev should have died in at least six other car-related incidents but is still as idiotic as ever, Kenma is fairly certain they at least are not normal cats. Instead, he says, “Kuroo feeds them all kinds of stuff. It's fine.”

“I’ve never seen anyone with so many cats. And they keep finding you, too.” Shouyou holds out slices of cake for the cats; Taketora attacks immediately, while Shouhei stays back with a cautious hiss. “I’ve never had pets either. The man who lives across the street from us, Inuoka-san, has a dog called Sou, and he’s so adorable! Wait, I think I have pictures—”

Shouyou hasn’t stopped playing with Kenma’s hair this entire time. Taketora and Shouhei sit in front of him with matching looks of _ah yes, youth_ and if it weren’t for the fact that Shouyou’s here Kenma would probably flick them both. _You’re here to spy for Kuroo, aren't you_ , he thinks. _Piss off_.

“Let me see,” Kenma says, twisting to look up at Shouyou. Just ignore the cats. Ignore them.

Shouyou’s face falls. “I can't find it! There are too many pictures in my phone. But Sou is so funny, okay, he keeps climbing onto roofs and trees because he thinks he's a cat or something, and then he can't get down and Inuoka-san has to rescue him. One time he even had to get Sou with a fishing net.”

Kenma stares at Shouyou, at his animated eyes and his fiery hair. He has so many things he wants to say stuck in his throat, but all of a sudden they didn't seem important at all.

“Kenma.”

Kenma realizes that Shouyou had stopped talking and is looking down at him. Did he ask a question?

“What is it?” Kenma’s voice comes out as a whisper.

“You're going to say no,” Shouyou mumbles.

Again with the breathless thing. Maybe Kenma will pass out after all. He doesn't know what he wants Shouyou to say when he asks again, “What is it?”

Shouyou squirms. “Okay, well. Do… you want to play volleyball with me?”

Kenma sighs.

 

* * *

 

Shouyou’s living room is littered with snack bags and empty soda cans. Natsu, Shouyou’s little sister, steps on them to make crinkly sounds as she went from couch to Shouyou and Kenma’s laps and then back again.

When Shouyou asked Kenma to come over to his place to play video games _because you don’t want to do anything else with me :((((_ , Kuroo had cried and packed Kenma an entire gift basket of chips and candy. Kenma had thought Kuroo was overreacting, but now he wonders if Kuroo just knows how much Shouyou eats.

“Ha!” Shouyou shouts, jamming his thumbs at random buttons on the controller. He’s the kind of player who leans forward and sideways as though that actually affects the game. “I can—NO!”

Kenma snorts as Shouyou’s character—he chose Kirby, which is so unfairly cute of him—goes flying into the distance. Shouyou flops onto his back with a groan, crushing an Apple Sidra can and a few crumpled wrappers.

“You use the same moves over and over,” Kenma says. “It's really easy to beat you.”

Shouyou lets out a frustrated _ahhhhhhhh_. Lev, who had followed Kenma here in the name of chaperoning (or fighting Shouyou for Kenma’s affection?), has his head stuck in a plastic bag. Natsu crunches over the trash over to them and flops over Shouyou’s stomach. “Nii-chan’s so warm!” she says into Shouyou’s shirt.

Kenma blinks. It’s true, Shouyou’s always warm temperature-wise. He’s never really thought about it because it seems so obvious. Is it normal for someone to consistently generate more body heat than others?

“Get off,” Shouyou grumbles, pretending to struggle against Natsu.

They wrestle half-heartedly, giggling and trying to tickle each other, until their mother calls from the hallway. “Natsu, it’s your bedtime!”

Shouyou watches Natsu get up and leave the room, whining loudly that she’s not sleepy. “I think I met Kageyama because of her,” he says suddenly.

Kenma looks at him.

“A while ago—Natsu and I watched a scary movie, and Natsu cried and said she doesn’t want to go to sleep because the evil monsters would come eat her. Or something.” Shouyou is still flat on his back. There’s something strangely still about his expression. “So I told her that we’ll ask the gods to keep monsters and nightmares away. We built a little shrine with a shoebox and offered buttons and candy and prayed. And then I had the best night of sleep in my life, and when I went outside to play volleyball, Kageyama’s just standing there. Across the street.”

“And what did he say?” Kenma asks, even though what he really wants to say is _you knew, didn’t you, you’ve known all this time, you just didn’t have the specifics and you want me to confirm_. Except he doesn’t know if he can. He doesn’t know if he can tell Shouyou what he wants to hear. He’s not even sure Shouyou really, actually wants to hear it.

“He saw my volleyball and asked if he could play with me,” Shouyou says, and Kenma almost sighs, because of course. Of course. “He kept showing up for a week after that; I never really knew why…” Shouyou closes his eyes. “And then last week I ran into him—it’s been so long since I last saw him that I almost didn’t recognize him—and I mentioned Oikawa-san and he made that face like his face hurts, and I thought—I thought—”

He finally looks at Kenma, and Kenma avoids his eyes, except Shouyou has that magnetic quality that makes it so hard to look away, so Kenma does the only thing he can: he flops down over Shouyou’s stomach, and Shouyou makes an _oof_.

_Let’s talk about something else_ , Kenma thinks in Shouyou’s general direction, hoping that even if telepathy isn’t a real thing he might still get the general feeling across. He doesn’t want this to be about the gods, to be about their different worlds. He doesn’t want to hang out with Shouyou just because he’s uninvolved in spirit things, and he hopes Shouyou doesn’t only want to play with Kenma because he’s surrounded by magic.

He wants this to be about them. Just the two of them, on the floor in a dirty living room. He wants them to joke about how Shouyou’s mother is going to scold them for the mess they made; he wants them to pretend to fight over how Kenma’s won every single game they’ve played together. He wants so many things and he wants Shouyou to want those things, too, and does it matter, really, whether phantoms or gods have anything to do with it?

“Shouyou,” he says, looking at Shouyou’s feet, his wiggling toes. “Let’s go to Kuroo’s shop tomorrow.”

Shouyou shifts; Kenma can feel his confusion. “Okay?”

“Kuroo set up a net in the back. He says he can play with us. Mori can, too. It can be two-on-two.” Two-on-two is a volleyball thing, right? Or is it three-on-three? Bokuto talks about volleyball a lot—actually, they all do, which is weird; do gods not play basketball or something?—but Kenma never listens. “Come with me tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Shouyou repeats.

“We can walk there together after school,” Kenma continues. He can’t stop. There are not enough words in the world. “Or if you have club activities, I can wait for you. Or meet you there. Or if you’re busy tomorrow, we can play on Sunday. Kuroo’s planning a barbeque, everyone’s going to come—”

Shouyou lifts his hand and starts stroking Kenma’s hair, and Kenma shuts up. That’s all the answer he really needs, anyway.

And later, after Kenma has gone home and is in bed, playing that game with the redheaded glasses guy whose route Kenma always takes, because _reasons_ , Shouyou messages him: _i didn’t know kuroo-san knows how to play volleyball!!!_

_is it ok for me to come to the bbq!! i can bring stuff, my mom made a ton of onigiri_

_i mean!! i’ll still come tomorrow!!!!!_

Kenma rolls his eyes. _Shouyou_ , he texts, _we go to the same school. I’m going to see you tomorrow_.

_i know i know!!_ Kenma can see Shouyou’s smile behind his eyes. _i just can’t wait!!! you know?_

 

* * *

 

The phantom barrels past Kenma so quickly that he almost misses it. It doesn’t even look at Kenma, simply flees across the street and down a manhole.

_Shouyou_ , Kenma thinks, and turns into the park.

It’s a warm, comfortable afternoon, and Kenma’s in no hurry to get home. He had finished his homework at Kuroo’s shop; dinner probably won’t be for another hour or so. Yuuki, the small black cat that Kuroo adopted fairly recently, is walking him home today and looking very proud about it. There is plenty of time and he’d been planning on curling up on his couch to play LoveLive, but. But.

Kenma finds Shouyou within seconds. He’s kneeling in the grass, laughing and scratching a fluffy brown puppy behind its ears. His orange hair is practically glowing in the sun. His smile, when he spots Kenma, is even brighter.

“Kenma!” Shouyou calls, leaping to his feet and waving both arms as though there is the slightest chance Kenma isn’t looking at him. As though Kenma could notice anyone else when Shouyou’s there. “Kenma! You’re here!”

_I thought you’d be here_ , Kenma does not say. _I wanted to see you_. “Hi, Shouyou,” he mumbles, fixing his eyes on the dog.

“This is Sou! I’m walking him for Inuoka-san.” Shouyou grabs Kenma’s wrist, and Kenma forgets to not look at him. “Come play with us!”

Kenma takes a deep breath and smiles. The breeze is soothing against his face, Yuuki and Sou are chasing each other in excitement, Shouyou is loud and dazzling and beautiful, and Kenma feels so, so alive.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate Title: The Gods Play Volleyball
> 
> Once again I have been defeated by Present Tense Monsters, if you want me I'm under my bed crying over grammar
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this Kira!! If you're not satisfied with this present I always have more Kenhina fic recs
> 
> I have a [tumblr](http://www.chocoholicfangirl.tumblr.com) where I yell a lot and am as awkward as I am here. Feel free to contact me about any mistakes I made or any 'fuck you choco the paragraphs were too short' thoughts you might have, I am bored and avoiding work.


End file.
